Washington Redskins defeat the Dallas Cowboys 28-18

How sweet it is. The Redskins defeated the Cowgirls, oops I means the Cowboys on Sunday 28-18. I was on pins and needles watching that game. The Skins also made my Thanksgiving day enjoyable by defeating the Cowboys 38-31.

They are too young to understand the angst, too new to this region to understand why there were tears being shed in the stands above them at FedEx Field. In the context of the Washington Redskins’ history, Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris are mere babies. Some Redskins fans have emotional scars that are older.

But on a frigid night that felt unmistakably like playoff weather, jarring long-dormant memories of glorious winters past, the two rookies marched the Redskins through the heart of the Dallas Cowboys’ defense and straight into the NFL playoffs.

There will be January football, playoff football, at FedEx Field next weekend for the first time in 13 years, following the Redskins’ 28-18 victory over the hated Cowboys on Sunday night.

Next Sunday at 4:30 p.m., the Redskins, newly crowned champions of the NFC East division, will host the Seattle Seahawks in a first-round playoff game, the first at FedEx Field since Jan. 8, 2000.

As the final seconds ticked down, fans ignored the cold, and the oncoming blitz of winter behind it, and rejoiced in a season extended by a victory on a night when a loss would have ended it.

As many expected, the rookie phenom in the Redskins’ backfield was clearly the best player on the field Sunday night, finding daylight where none seemed to exist and getting the ball to the end zone better than anyone else. Only this time, the rookie wasn’t Griffin, the Redskins’ transcendent superstar quarterback. It was Morris, the unassuming sixth-round draft pick who drives a 1991 Mazda 626 he calls his “Bentley.”

With Griffin still slowed by a knee injury suffered three weeks earlier, Morris, even more than usual, became the Redskins’ workhorse. Over and over, Griffin, 22, fed him the ball, and Morris, 24, ran to daylight. By the third quarter, Morris, plowing through defenders and hitting holes like vintage John Riggins, owned the Redskins’ single-season rushing record, bettering Clinton Portis’s seven-year-old record of 1,516, and by the end of the game, he had carried the ball 33 times for 200 yards, both career highs.

“Coming from where I came from, with no one expecting nothing from you, and to do this on this level, on this stage,” Morris said, “is just an honor.”

When it was over, Griffin and Morris took a moment to ponder what they had just done: Seven straight wins. The franchise’s first playoff berth since 2007. Its first division title since 1999.

As a long time fan who has suffered for more than a decade from the miserable play coming from the Redskins, they have finally come alive. I still can’t believe they’re in the playoffs. After the dismal 3-6 start, I figured they would be lucky to be at least 5-11 by the end of the season. I’m so glad I was wrong.

The only thing that disturbed me watching this game was listening to Cris Collinsworth constant fawning over Tony Romo. Cris was getting on my last nerve. I swear I wanted to get in my car, head over to the stadium and tell Mr. Collinsworth to STFU about Romo!!!

Anyway I’m looking forward to the playoff game this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks are young and hungry too. Let’s hope the Skins are ready for them.